The biggest causes of death around the world is from diseases of the cardiovascular system. This is mainly heart disease and stroke, both of which are caused by blockages of the cardiovascular system – blood vessels – in the heart or brain. These blockages cause surrounding tissue to be starved of oxygen, which can cause death of the tissue and in the worst case death of the individual.
These diseases get worse with age, partly owing to the build-up of the negative effects of poor life style in preceding years, are partly because during our standard ageing process the walls of our vascular system get stiffer, meaning they are more liable to get blocked.
Because of this, finding ways to stop the aging of the cardiovascular system is one of the most important parts of global public health. And nutrition, especially eating plenty of fiber, is a key part of that.
It has been known for quite some time that eating dietary fiber plays a positive role in reducing the likelihood of dying from cardiovascular disease (a recent review of meta-reviews (themselves reviews of many different datasets) confirmed this.
A likely mechanistic cause of dietary fiber’s effect is “actions on reducing total serum and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations” in the blood of consumers. That is, fiber reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease by reduces the likelihood of blockages, and the stuff that turns into blockages, from forming in the first place.
But fiber may have a specific effects that improve the state of our cardiovascular system itself, by improving the walls of our veins and arteries as well as reducing the inflammatory effects.
It does this by encouraging the production of short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) by bacteria in our guts. This has so far been shown for propionate.
So if you want to grow old gracefully, make sure you pile on fiber!